First Test: 2011 Ram Laramie Longhorn HD 3500

Somewhere West Laramie: Ram Debuts a New Edition for the American Southwest

By Allyson Harwood, Photography by Jessica Walker

Truck Trend, July 11, 2011

The Southwest is massive, and the biggest market for pickups, so it seemed appropriate for Ram Truck to send us the second-largest Laramie Longhorn in existence. This truck is a crew cab (huge interior volume) Heavy-Duty 3500 dually (the widest) with the longest bed (8 feet), and it's the four-wheel-drive model (tallest). The only way you could get a bigger truck is to opt for the Mega Cab. But it's not the truck's immense size that makes this Ram unique; it is its high-class cowboy design. The Laramie Longhorn is the new topline trim level for Ram 1500, 2500, and 3500 trucks, and it promises to give Ford's King Ranch a run for its money.

As far as the powertrain is concerned, this truck is identical to the rest of the Heavy Duty line, with the 350-horse, 650-pound-foot Cummins (the Max Tow package wasn't available at the time of our test), in this case controlled by the six-speed automatic. Even in a truck of this size and mass, the inline-six offered plenty of pickup, and power delivery was smooth. And it was easier to park than it should've been for its size. The trusty Cummins provided a low rumble and was nearly odorless. At the track, the HD3500 reached 60 mph in 9.3 seconds, and ran the quarter mile in 16.9 seconds at 80.4 mph. It stopped from 60 mph in 157 feet. And our truck, as equipped, can tow as much as 12,900 pounds on a conventional hitch (more than 19,000 with a fifth wheel), has a GVWR of 12,300 pounds, and a payload capacity of 4180 pounds.